Legion in popular culture
"My name is Legion" is a quotation from the Gospel according to Mark and refers to a story in which Jesus meets a man possessed by demons, and who, when asked what his name is, responds: : "My name is Legion, for we are many." The quotation has been referenced and alluded to many times throughout history in popular culture. In books *''My Name is Legion'' is a 1976 collection of three stories by Roger Zelazny. *''My Name is Legion'' is a 1999 crime novel by Sheila Martin Berry. *''My Name is Legion'' is a 2004 novel by A. N. Wilson. *''O Meu Nome É Legião'' ("My Name is Legion" in Portuguese) is a 2007 novel by António Lobo Antunes. *Legion, whose name is Andre Linoge (an anagram of Legion), is the villain in Stephen King's story Storm of the Century *Randall Flagg, the villain in Stephen King's The Stand, refers to himself as Legion and has a trace memory of being kicked into a herd of pigs by Jesus. *"Our Name is legion" is also quoted in Stephen King's 'It', During Interlude One, the Gas Station Worker's Wife is commented to have heard voices from the drain of her sink during the 1957 incidence. *"We are Myria LeJean" is used to introduce this character in Terry Pratchett's Thief of Time. She is a manifestation of an auditor, a being which will be destroyed if it shows any sign of individuality. "Myria" is easily associated with "myriad", and "LeJean" with "legion", alluding to this bible passage. *The line is alluded to in John Dies at the End when the character Dave is confronted by a human, Justin, whose body is being controlled by a swarm of tiny, supernatural parasites. When Justin rejects his old name and Dave asks what he should call him instead, his reply is "Just call me 'Shitload.' Because there's a shitload of us in here." In videogames *In many of the Shin Megami Tensei games, a cluster of souls in the form of a single demon is referred to as Legion. *Legion is the main antagonist to Acclaim's Shadow Man. Their role in the game was trying to harness the power of the dark souls and bring about the Apocalypse or The End of All Things. They were stopped by Michael LeRoi (a.k.a. Shadow Man) and in the end, died a horrible fate. *In the video game series Castlevania, Legion is a recurring boss. It is usually presented as a round orb or manifestation of countless naked bodies. *In Mass Effect, if the character asks Sovereign how many Reapers exist, he replies, "We are Legion." *In the video game Manhunt 2, a gang named The Legion, sometimes say "Our Name is Legion, for we are many", this can also be heard in the beginning of one of the trailers for the game. *In the Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver 2 introduction movie Kain states : "But each of us is so much more than we once were. Do you not feel with all your soul how we have become like gods? And as such, are we not indivisible? As long as a single one of us stands, we are legion..." *In the Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars expansion pack, Kane's Wrath, the player plays the role of an AI called LEGION who, in the third act of game is ordered to command army of cyborgs. Kane states : "You are Legion" *The Legion is the name of the alien race and main antagonists of the video game Epoch Star. Whenever the player engages Legion forces, they will say, "We are the Legion for we are many." *In the Tabletop Game Warhammer 40000, the cyborg-like race called Necrons have a quote in their Codex Source book: "Their number is legion, their name is death". *When the player chooses to use the Chaos Space Marines in Warhammer 40k Dawn of War, selecting a Chaos Marine squad may result it the response "We are legion" as the squad's aknowledgement of the player's selection. *In Blood Will Tell, one of the 48 fiends hyakkimaru (this stories protagonist) must destroy is named 'Legion'. He has many faces upon his body from those who worship him, thereby implying that he physically manifest with many different pseudos of identity. *In Animal Crossing: City Folk, while playing hide and seek with townsfolk, after finding one, they might say "We are legion, for we are many." *In Dark Age of Camelot, Legion is the strongest creature that rules over Darkness Falls. In television *In the series finale of Angel, a television series and spin off of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Marcus Hamilton (Adam Baldwin) uses the quote, "We Are Legion. We are Forever." to describe himself just before being defeated by Angel. *In American horror television series Millennium in the episode "The Judge", a serial killer employs delinquents and ex-convicts to brutally murder, and carry out his "justice". When arrested and interviewed by former FBI Agent Frank Black, he follows Frank's question of "What should I call you?" with "My name is Legion". *"My name is Legion, for we are many" is also quoted by one of the demons of the Seven Deadly Sins in the American action-drama Supernatural. *Legion appears in the British Television series Red Dwarf in the episode "Legion". He is a being composed of many separate minds like the biblical text and also uses the biblical quote "My Name is Legion for we are many". *The title of the episode "Legion" from the animated series Gargoyles is an allusion to the Biblical quotation. The episode features a cyborg possessed by multiple spirits of dead Gargoyles. * In the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, Nick takes on a computer virus called Legion. In music *The quote 'My name is Legion' and two lines later 'We are many' is used in the song 'Ghost in the Firewall' by Progressive Rock band Arena. *"My Name is Legion" is a song by Electric Hellfire Club from the album "Witness The Millennium". There is a line stating, "My name is Legion: for I'm many". *The death metal band Arch Enemy made a song called "Nemesis" with the powerful line "We are legion, Voice of anarchy This is revolution Creating new disorder" *In a Black Sabbath song called "I" appears a line, "I am Legion, strength in numbers a lie, the number is one" *The Demons & Wizards song "Crimson King" contains the line, "I am Legion." This song is actually about Stephen King's Dark Tower where Randall Flagg is one of the villains. *Legion is the name of a song by Theatre of Hate *Legion is also the name of a song by Gothic Metal band Saviour Machine * Drum & Bass musician Breakage released a song entitled 'The 9th Hand' on Planet Mu in 2006 which contained the sample, "My name is Legion, for we are many." *"Mi nombre es Legión" ("My name is Legion", in Spanish) is a song by Spanish band Siniestro Total, written for the soundtrack of El día de la bestia (The Day of The Beast), a movie by director Álex de la Iglesia. Its opening line says "My name is Legion/for we are many, we are multitude". *The Severed Heads song Legion opens with the line "My name is Legion." *Legion is also the name of the second release by Death Metal band Deicide. *A hardstyle song by Hellraiser & The Engineer, was titled "Legion (For We Are Many)" In film *Legion is the name of the main antagonist in the Japanese Kaiju movie, Gamera 2: Attack of Legion *Legion is mentioned in the film The Exorcism of Emily Rose *Legion is the antagonist in the indie horror film 5ive Girls. *"My name is Legion, for we are many," is quoted by Blackheart, the lead antagonist from the 2007 movie "Ghost Rider", after merging with one thousand souls of the damned. *In the 1996 Daiei film, "Gamera 2: Advent of Legion", the titular monster Gamera battles an insectoid monster dubbed "Legion" by the Japanese military, due to the fact that the creature 'commands' an immense army of smaller creatures which appear to be smaller versions of itself. A Japanese soldier also quotes the biblical scripture in Mark to which the name is a reference. *In a Stephen King film, "Storm of the Century," the antagonist had identified himself as Legion, with his original name being Andre Linoge (an anagram of Legion). *In the Exorcist Three Legion is referenced by the supposed Gemini Killer, who gained notoriety by a series of Richmond VA murders where he cut the sign of the Gemini into the left palm of his victims, who's soul actually possesses the body of Father Damian after his descent down the steps in the original Exorcist movie by Blatty. The movie also references to the Dark One possessing the bodies of catotonics, stroke victems or the elderly suffering from demensia, whom are easy to possess or press into service for his evil bidding and malintent. On the Internet * "We are Legion" is one of the various mottos used frequently by the Internet-based group Anonymous and popularized through Project Chanology, their protest against the Church of Scientology. In comics *Legion is the name of Charles Xavier's son in X-men. He's a mutant suffering from Multiple Personality Disorder (now called Dissociative Identity Disorder), with each personality possessing a different power, thus being "one and many". *In Green Lantern: Emerald Dawn, the main villain is Legion. He is revealed to be the entire populace of a planet once imprisoned by the Guardians of Oa. In history *"Our name is Legion, and we are Many" is from Daniel Defoe's "Legion's Memorial," delivered to the British House of Commons on May 14, 1701, in which Defoe defends the right to petition, claiming to represent 200,000 petitioners.Smith, Norman B.: "'Shall Make No Law Abridging. . .': An Analysis of the Neglected, but Nearly Absolute, Right of Petition", University of Cincinnati Law Review (54):1153 (1986). References